How to Write Your Name in Korean (Hangul)

Seeing your own name in Hangul is one of the most fun early milestones in learning Korean — and it's a great way to cement how the writing system works. The key idea is that Korean transliterates names by sound, not by spelling. You're not translating meaning; you're rebuilding the way your name sounds using Korean letters and syllable blocks. Here's exactly how to do it, with worked examples and the gotchas to watch for.

Transliteration is about sound, not spelling

Korean writes foreign names phonetically. That means you ignore English spelling quirks and focus on how the name is actually pronounced. 'John' isn't 'j-o-h-n' — it's the sound 'jon', written 존. To do this well, it helps to already know the letters; if you don't, start with our Korean alphabet (Hangul) guide.

Step 1: Break your name into sounds

Say your name slowly and split it into spoken syllables. 'Jessica' → JE-SSI-CA. 'David' → DAY-VID. Don't worry about silent letters or English spelling — only the sounds you actually make.

Step 2: Map each sound to Korean letters

Match each sound to its closest Korean consonant and vowel. A few common mappings that surprise beginners:

• There's no 'f' or 'v' in Korean — 'f' usually becomes ㅍ (p) and 'v' becomes ㅂ (b). 'Steve' → 스티브.
• There's no 'z' — it becomes ㅈ (j). 'Liz' → 리즈.
• 'r' and 'l' are the same letter, ㄹ. Context decides the sound.
• A final consonant that can't sit alone gets a small ㅡ (eu) added after it. 'Mark' → 마크 (ma-keu).

Step 3: Stack the sounds into syllable blocks

Just like any Korean word, each syllable becomes one square block — consonant + vowel, with an optional final consonant. Put a vertical vowel (ㅏ, ㅣ) to the right of the consonant and a horizontal vowel (ㅗ, ㅜ) underneath it.

• 마이클ma-i-keul

  Michael

  MA + I + KEUL. The 'ch' here is closer to a 'k' sound, and ㅡ fills out the final cluster.

• 에밀리e-mil-li

  Emily

  E + MIL + LI, using ㄹ for both the 'l' sounds.

• 데이비드de-i-bi-deu

  David

  'v' → ㅂ (b); the final 'd' gets a ㅡ added → 드 (deu).

• 세라se-ra

  Sarah

  By sound it's closer to 세라 (SE-ra) — the first vowel is 'e', not 'a'. You'll also see 사라, a traditional spelling that follows the letters instead of the sound; pick whichever matches how you say it.

• 크리스keu-ri-seu

  Chris

  Both the leading and trailing clusters get a ㅡ → 크 and 스.

Caveats and common questions

• There's often more than one valid spelling. Pick the one that sounds closest to how you say your name.
• A few names have an established Korean spelling that follows the original letters rather than the English sound (Sarah → 사라, not 세라). When a name already has a well-known Korean form, that version usually wins — so it's worth checking for one before transliterating from scratch.
• Names tend to grow extra syllables in Korean because of the added ㅡ — that's expected, not an error.
• Some sounds simply don't exist in Korean (f, v, z, th), so you settle for the nearest equivalent.
• Transliterating the sound is different from picking a separate Korean name with its own meaning — both are fine, just different goals.

If you'd rather skip the manual transliteration, try our free Korean name generator, which gives you a real Korean name in Hangul with its romanization and meaning in seconds. And the best way to confirm your name looks and sounds right is to use it. In our AI character chat, you can introduce yourself in Korean — 저는 [your name]이에요 ('I'm [name]') — and see your Hangul name in a real conversation, which is a surprisingly effective way to make it stick. Want to practice the writing itself? Our Hangul handwriting guide walks through stroke order so you can write your name by hand, too. And to ask and answer "what's your name?" in conversation, see our dedicated guide.